To everyone’s surprise — including our own — Angus Fisher has been named President of the University of Sydney Student Representative Council. This marks the first National Labor Students (NLS) presidency at the University of Sydney in seven years, after a five year dynasty of Grassroots presidencies.
Despite Fisher’s competitor, Rand Khatib, maintaining her position as a frontrunner across the three days of Honi Soit’s exit polling, preferences from Liberal ballots would have filtered through to Fisher if electors had voted according to Liberal pamphlets.
This situated preferences as a vital factor in the three-way election, and a supplement to Fisher’s electoral base, as he was the only candidate who was referenced by the factions of both his competitors.
Fisher received 1,052 primary votes across the three days of voting, securing his victory with 38% of the primary vote share. Khatib secured 37% of the primary vote. Secondary preferences flowing from Thomas Thorpe enabled him to secure the win.
Fisher’s comment to Honi after the provisional election read:
“I would first like to thank the student body. You guys believed in the message of IMPACT, that is the two pronged solution and actually asking what the USYD student body wants of the SRC. This is monumental. It’s been 7 years since a NLS SRC President, I hope to follow that legacy well. I would next like to thank NLS and particularly my campaign managers Jasmine Donnelly, Rose Donnelly, Red Tilly, and Mia Williams, and Sophie Kristensen. This would not be possible without this dedicated collective, they mean everything to me. I promise to work well with all factions. We all have the same goal of putting students first and making a just world. I want to and will continue that tradition. Condolences to the other presidential candidates, you put forth a convincing case and I look forward to working with you. The SRC I lead will continue to fight for a free Palestine and will put students interests first, being oppositional to management. Thank you so much for this opportunity. See you around xoxo”
More to come. Updates are posted to Instagram and Twitter.
